“The last bill before me is Introductory Number 393-A, sponsored by Council Members Comrie, Davis, Gerson, Liu, McMahon, Provenzano, Serrano and Weprin.

“This legislation would amend the City’s Administrative Code by expanding the definition of ‘fill material’ to include ‘asphalt millings.’  Asphalt millings are composed of approximately 90% rock, sand and gravel aggregate and approximately 5% asphalt, also known as asphalt cement.  Fill material has a number of uses, specifically the alteration and or improvement of land by grading, leveling and compacting, among other things.
 
“The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation considers asphalt millings to be non-hazardous and allows its use as a safe and appropriate fill material.  The addition of  “asphalt millings” to the definition of fill materials in the City’s Administrative Code will be fully consistent with the State’s rules and regulations which already allow asphalt millings to be used in fill material operations. 

“In addition to making the City’s definition of fill material consistent with the State’s definition, this legislation will give the City another alternative to dispose of the surplus asphalt millings produced by the City’s road projects.  Each year the Department of Transportation (DOT) produces approximately 270,000 tons of milled asphalt pavement through its in house resurfacing program.  DOT incorporates 123,000 tons of these asphalt millings annually into the new asphalt produced at our City-owned plant in Brooklyn.  Another 15,000 tons are recycled into new asphalt by the vendors providing asphalt to DOT.  While an additional 92,000 tons are provided to City and private entities for use as grading material, leaving the City with 40,000 tons of millings to dispose of each year.  By enacting this legislation, new channels are being developed to improve the City’s recycling efforts and to avoid the necessity of disposing of these millings at landfills.”